Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-04-23
STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY.
Reports Read at the Meeting at San
Francisco on Thursday.

tJJs L. w . duutluBtOn, Oh Sacrdme ntO
read an able report from the Com
lions made in the paper were remarks
upon the history and practice of that
branch of the medical profession. 1t is in
teresting to note the rise of surgery from
empiricism to the dignity of a science
There is no century which does not COM
plete volume in its history and mark the
march of advancing thought. The expe-
rience of the doctor taught him the supe-
riority of catgut bands in general practice
over silk threads. As sanitation is i'm
portant 10 public health, so is wound
drainage OF vital moment to surgery. For
stitching up cuts in the face and neck, he
believed horsehair, rendered aseptic in
boiling water, was preferable to silk The
omission of any precautionary measures on
the part of the operator is at all times
hazardous, both to himself and the pa
tent. In fracture treatment, most of the
disasters recorded are more apparent than
real. Some of the appalling apparatus at
present used in this department of surgery
deserves, in the opinion of the reader, a re-
spected niche in some medical museum of
antiquities. The restitution of form and
function of limbs in operative surgery can,
IN many cases, hardly be hoped for.
The crisis in such operations is gen.
orally reached in the initial dressing
of the injury. A temporary dressing per-
petrated upon an obvious displacement,
with view TO improvement in future
examination of the case, is contrary to all
common sense and humanity. Bandaging
IS an art susceptible of improvement to
great perfection, and may even be made an
agent of relief and comfort to the patient,
rather than, as often happens, an add.
donal means of torture. Many surgical
disasters are due to negligence on the part
OF the attendant in properly adjusting the
supports of the affected member in a posi-
ton correct to the alignment, as well as
convenient to the comfort of the patient.
The fatalities attending anesthesia are sug-
geStiye of homicide, and should be forever
avoided when possible. The superiority of
chloroform over ether as an anesthetic is
now universally admitted so that now the
choice of an agent of anesthesia is more
matter of principle rather than of iudg-
nent. Let u.s." said the speaker, "have
faith in those methods which have with
stood the test of years, for, in the words of
Emerson, Show me the man who has
acted, who has not been the victim and
slave of his actions" The paper was
heartily applauded and passed to print.
By DIR. F. W. HATCH.
The report of the Committee on Mental
Diseases and Medical Jurisprudence was
read by DR.. f. w. Hatch, the Chairman.
lie stated that the number of inmates of
the State Insane Asylums is increasing
every year. In the last two and a half
years the increase was 400, and there are
now 1850 inmates. The boundary lines of
the term insanity have of late wears been
so extended as to include opium-eaters. in
temperates, the Weak-minded, idiots and
many other classes not heretofore regarded
as insane. Another factor of this increase
rs the extended longevity of those cared for
IN the asylums. There has grown up
among the people an increased faith in the
superiority of the treatment at the asylums
over that afforded at home. The insane
may be divided into three grand class es ::
the acute cases of mania or melancholia.
those afflicted with homicidal or suicidal
mania. and the victims of delusion-the
8 mpe monomaniacs and the large army of
cranks. An asylum for the treatment of
the acute cases, the chronic insane, is an
absolute necessity. 1--WE had a bill" said
he, providing for such an institution
passed at the Legislature, but it failed of
the gubernatorial approval. l do not hest
tate to say that the great majority, even
two-thirds of the insane at Napa and Stock
ton are incurable and beyond reasonable
nope of recovery. The annual expense per
-sl42, and at Stockton $149; but an exami-
nation of reports of 81 other institutions
IN this country shows but four asylums
more economical. We have advanced
much in methods of the care of our
patients, but little in the matter of treat
Iuent with the view of their restoration to
home and society. At Stockton there are but
three assistant physicians to care for 1,4OO
patients. The system of non-restraint is
slowly superseding the old methods of
strait-iacket, locked doors and mechanical
control, but the oyercrowded condition of
our asylums, however, interferes with
much progress and we are unable to classify
the cases to any extent. Commonsense
would say cure all that are durable at any
cost, and care for the chronics as kindly as
possible. A large class of inmates are re-
ceiyed at the asylums which have no place
there. Idiot children are often received
because no provisions are made for them
elsewhere, and if rejected they only return
again for admission. The law providing
for the support of certain ineligible cases
at the expense of the Supervisors of differ
ent counties has in every case proved in
effective, and the Stockton authorities have
given up the plan of returning them home.
The complement of insane criminals an
nually received is not to be overlooked.
and they have to be placed in the midst of
respectable people of weak minds or harm
less idiots. The influence may be better
conceived than described. Frequently
commitments are made to the asylums
which should never occur" The speaker
knew OF men being sent to the asylum at
Stockton as dangerous to be at large who.
on examination, were found unable to
walk step or get up out of chair without
falling out.
The address was receivad with ,-oat m
pisuse and was ordered printed
BY DR.. 1. E. oATMAN.
At the evening session DR.. Ira Z. Dat
nlan, OF Sacramento, read the report of the
Committee on Medical Legislation. in
which, after reviewing the failure to Sc
cure relief at the hands of the Legislature.
1t was urged that a committee should be
appointed to prepare bill for presentation
regulating the practice of medicine and
surgery, and also to provide that physicians
giving expert testimony in Courts might
receive liberal fee.
BY DIR. C. G. TYRRELL.
DR.. G. G. Tyrrell, of Sacramento. Chair
man of the Committee on State Medicine.
presented an exhaustive report. He re-
ferred in satirical terms to the members of
&he recent Legislature. He said Ex-
posed as we are to the constantly threaten
ing inroads of those infectious and con-
tagious diseases which are epidemic, and at
times epidemic, in Mexico and South
America, the importation of which would
be most disastrous to our country, not only
IN the sacrifice of human life, but in the
destruction of its commercial property, we
naturally look to our Legislature for recog
milton of the paramount claims OF prevent
i've or State medicine as the one means by
which protection can be afforded TO our
state IN such emergency. Unfortunately
for US, our Legislatures for several years
back have not had the mental capacity to
comprehend the necessity that existed for
or the value to be derived from preventive
measures. They were of that class of men
who, as far as sanitary knowledge was con-
cerned, were perfectly what the old Roman
law would cali "Mente Capt. During the
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